Mike, it would be logical to me that you could just swap input shafts....that's the way it is on a Toploader...if you wanna go from a small input to a large input (albeit other considerations must be met), you just swap them out. It would make sense that the cases are the same.
Is the mainshaft (output shaft) strong enough to hold V8 torque? You may have to change it as well.
It shouldn't be that bad of a job to change an input shaft, if that's all you have to do. If it's like a Toploader, you'll have to drop the layshaft (countershaft) out of the way to get it out...and it just pulls out...The mainshaft in a Toploader rides inside of the input shaft...so there's a dozen or so needle roller bearings that it rides in. These will undoubtedly spill out....and will need to be retrieved and replaced with new ones.
It's probably a tiny bit above the average mechanic...but how else do you learn? Jump in there and do it. That's how you get to master mechanic from average.
You'll need a bearing press to press the input bearing off, and it wouldn't hurt to have a good quality seal driver. I usually use a press to press seals in....but a seal driver would probably work best.
I know nothing about T-5's....but here's some answers I would try to find.
1. Does the mainshaft need to be changed?
2. Do I have to find an input shaft with the correct ratio gear?
3. Will the pilot of the V6 mainshaft fit inside a V8 input shaft? (I've never seen the inside of one of these tranny's...so I'm speculating this is how it works.)
I don't know of any good books...but most tranny rebuild kits come with detailed instructions.
Rebuilding a T5 questions
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